MONITORING THE FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES SUPPLY CHAIN IN TURKEY

Słowa kluczowe

agricultural supply chain fresh fruits and vegetables Turkey restructuring of agricultural supply chains food safety and food losses.

Streszczenie

Turkey’s bio-diversity, geographical structure and climatic conditions, makes it possible to produce a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Although, the high production capacity, half of the vegetables and fruits are lost during the supply chain processes from farmer to the end consumer because of the long and complex structure of the supply chain. At the same time the current supply chain structure leads to huge gaps between producer and consumer prices. The aim of this study is to determine the structure of the fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain in Turkey and develop alternative supply chain forms to prevent the “price differences” and “product losses” from farmer to the final consumer. The study included descriptive analyses with secondary data as well as literature review. In addition, this study emphasizes the asymmetric power relationship in the agricultural supply chain. The asymmetric power relationship is explained by the price differences between the farmer and the final consumer. The research findings suggest that the transition from the existing multi-intermediated supply chain to the non-intermediated model must be done in a gradual way and through strengthening of the farmers.